Environmentalists Say Law

Would Cut Wetlands Protection

Broward County officials spent two years writing a tough new policy to protect vanishing wetlands from the westward sprawl of construction.

Now, as the county writes a law that will enforce the policy, environmentalists said the protection has been watered down.

"There is barely an ounce of protection in these rules," said Patti Webster, head of the Environmental Coalition of Broward County.

The law will go before the County Commission on Nov. 9, with a final vote due on Nov. 23.

Government officials and environmental activists agree that the law will give the county more muscle to control wetlands, the marshy areas that help cleanse Broward's underground drinking water and shelter wildlife.

Early this century, most of Broward was a wetland. Decades of new houses and shopping centers shrank the marshes. Most remaining wetlands are in southwest Broward, but some prime cypress forests and pond apple swamps lie in the county's northwest.

County environmental officials said the new law is plenty tough and has not been weakened. Developers could not turn a spade in a wetland without first showing it could not be avoided.

"The burden is totally on the developer to prove there's not another alternative possible," said Mira Barer, director of the county's Department of Natural Resource Protection.

If the county gave up a wetland, the builder would have to create a new wetland elsewhere or restore one infested by melaleucas - fast-growing trees that have taken over many areas.

But Webster's environmental group said the proposed law makes it too easy for developers to win the option of paving wetlands in return for promises to restore other swamps. The process is called mitigation.

The county's policy stresses protecting wetlands, not just mitigating them, Webster said. Plus, mitigation has not always worked. Some swamps created by builders have died quickly, said biologist Dianne Petitjean, a member of a county natural resource advisory board.

Also, Webster said builders could still mow wetland areas, a practice that can kill them.

County Commissioners John Hart and John Rodstrom said the law strikes a good balance between nature and business.

The key, Rodstrom said, is to protect and revive large swaths of wetlands rather than every dot of swamp on the map.

"The environmental people don't want one thing disturbed. They don't want one thing built," Rodstrom said. "I think that's ridiculous. They are more concerned with wildlife than people."

County scientists have written a plan to rate the quality of every wetland. The ratings will be plugged into formulas to decide how much wetlands must be restored by developers that build in swamps.

The county's ratings and formula break new ground and will be the nation's most sophisticated system for protecting wetlands, Hart said.

But environmentalists said the system is untested anywhere. If it fails, Broward will be left with fewer marshlands, which runs contrary to President Clinton's newly stated goal of "no net loss" of wetlands in the nation, said Sally Brokken, a member of the county Planning Council.